ESSAYS 127 



nowadays in this country, but years ago it was recognised as good for animals, 

 and was specially cultivated abroad, largely in the Low Countries. The plant 

 grows rapidly, and two crops a year can be obtained, which are fed either green 

 or as hay, or are eaten off the field by the animals. 1 If the seeds are allowed 

 to ripen it is said that they can be harvested and used separately for feeding 

 purposes. Nettles, again, are used abroad to some extent when other forage 

 is scarce. The animals will not touch the growing plants because of the stinging 

 hairs, but shortly after cutting these hairs collapse from loss of water and are then 

 innocuous. Nettles have long been cultivated in Sweden, as they can be grown 

 on waste or poor land and they are very resistant to extreme temperatures. 2 One 

 great advantage is their rapid growth, as with judicious cutting three crops a year 

 can be obtained. Even where regular cutting is not practised the leaves and 

 seeds are often collected and dried as winter food for fowls. The leaves are 

 boiled in water to the consistency of gruel, and are then mixed with cooked 

 potato peelings, while the seeds are added to other food and are found to 

 stimulate egg production. Analyses made by Professor Hendrick 3 show that 

 nettles may be very useful as feeding-stuff. Young nettles from 12-18 in. high 

 sampled in May contain much fat and ash, and also as much albuminoid material 

 as linseed cake. Older nettles cut in July are more fibrous and contain more 

 soluble carbohydrates, but the percentage of nitrogen is higher than that in 

 grasses. These figures indicate that dried nettles cut at the flowering stage are 

 similar in analysis to hay made from leguminous crops. 



Various other weeds can be used as green fodder in localities where they 

 happen to grow abundantly. Knot-grass {Polygonum aviculare and P. lapathi- 

 folium)* is relished by pigs, which also eat hog-weed (Heracleum sphondyliuni) 

 with avidity, the knot-grass has been made into hay in Alsace. 5 German 

 experiments 6 show that many of the most common weeds are distinctly valuable, 

 chickweed (Stellaria media), bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), creeping thistle 

 (Cirsium arvense), fathen (Chenopodium album), and sowthistle (Sonchus 

 oleraceus) being suitable for feeding in quantity. They are all more nutritious 

 in a dry state than when fresh, bindweed containing the largest proportion of food 

 constituents. Bent grass (Agrostis stolonifera) was at one time sold in France 

 and Italy for horses, 7 and used to be cultivated in this country for fodder, though 

 the practice has now almost been discontinued. 



The necessity created by the war has caused experiments to be made with 

 unusual food substances; attempts have even been made to utilise "flour" 

 made from wood. This has proved of some value for feeding cattle, but is 

 useless for carnivorous beasts, as dogs. In Austria fallen leaves have been 

 collected from the woods and used instead of chaff in feeding horses and cattle. 

 Another substitute has been made in Sweden from lichens, reindeer and Iceland 

 moss being said to form valuable fodder when they are soaked and prepared. In 

 Germany American waterweed (Elodea canadensis) has been collected from lakes 

 and water-courses and dried for forage, especially for pigs. 



1 Spurrey as a forage crop, Journ. Board Agric. vol. xviii. pp. 1020-24. 



2 Garcia Santos, A Vinha Portugueza, vol. xxxi. No. 9, pp. 276-80, 1916. See 

 Rome Bulletin, vol. viii. p. 77, 1917. 



s National Food Journ. Sept. 11, 1918. See also Journ. Board Agric. vol. xxv. 

 p. 992, 1918. 



4 Stdrme und Klein, Deutsche Landwirtsch. Presse, 41. No. 80, p. 890, 1914- 

 See also Pome Bull. p. 1626, 1914. 5 Hogg and Johnson, ibid. 



6 Kling, M., Landw. Versuch-stat. vol. lxxxv. pp. 433-70. 



7 Wilson, ibid. 



